NEW YORK — SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE: SLG), New York City’s largest commercial property owner, has reached an agreement to sell two Fifth Avenue retail development sites to a single, undisclosed buyer for $125.4 million, or $13,690 per zoning square foot. The transaction is expected to be completed before the end of this year and is subject to customary closing conditions.
The sites, located at 570 and 574 Fifth Ave., were acquired by SL Green in November 2013 for a total of $78.7 million. The publicly traded REIT subsequently vacated the tenants in the existing buildings in preparation for a comprehensive retail development.
“With this transaction, SL Green will realize returns on its original investment that are consistent with our original underwriting without having incurred any development risk,” says Brett Herschenfeld, managing director of SL Green. “In addition, the sale provides a source of equity capital that can be tax efficiently redeployed into Eleven Madison on an immediately accretive basis.”
These sales are part of SL Green’s disposition and reinvestment strategy to help fund its previously announced $2.6 billion acquisition of Eleven Madison Avenue.
SL Green Realty Corp. is focused primarily on acquiring and managing commercial properties in Manhattan. As of June 30, the REIT held interests in 120 Manhattan buildings totaling 44.1 million square feet.
In addition to its Manhattan investments, SL Green held ownership interests in 37 suburban buildings totaling 5.9 million square feet in Brooklyn, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey, as of June 30.
SL Green Realty’s stock price closed on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at $108.26 per share, up from $105.14 per share a year ago.
— John Nelson